On this Wordless Wednesday we’d like to share a “family” photo from last week’s Grand Opening celebration in Pella, Iowa.
Do you see any familiar faces?
If you’re not familiar with this blogosphere phenomenon, About.com, describes Wordless Wednesday as, “a simple blog post featuring a photo which conveys a message that speaks for itself without using words.”
Progressive Dairyman introduces readers to Michigan State University’s Robotic Milking User Group in the article, “Questions about robots? Michigan State University facilitates farmer-to-farmer dialogue for answers.”
The article shares how the Robotic Milking User Group held its biannual gathering at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, March 13, 2012, to brainstorm and discuss progress on their farms.
Included below is an excerpt from the online article:
The Robotic Milking user group was founded in 2010 at the request of a dairy producer who wanted to get together with other robot users to share information. Today, the group meets twice a year at rotating sites.
“One nice thing we have about our robot users group: We have email capabilities within the group,” said Howard Straub of St. John’s, Michigan. Straub has two robotic units and milks 102 cows in a combined freestall/pasture grazing facility. “One time I sent in a question and got eight answers.”
The group includes dairy producers in Michigan and Indiana, extension educators and researchers at MSU, and industry representatives.
For the full article, including a sampling of the Q&A with producers and robotic milking dealers, we encourage you to visit Progressive Dairyman’s website.
Dairy producers and members of Michigan State University’s Robotic Milking User Group, from left, Jeremy Dankert, Santiago Utsumi, Sammy Jones and Howard Straub, answer questions about robotic milking for other producers as part of a robotic milking conference panel discussion on March 13, 2012, at MSU’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. Photo courtesy of Progressive Dairyman.
The Grand Opening celebration may have come to an end for many of us last Thursday night, but the celebration has continued online where many attendees have taken a moment to share their experience. Thank you to the many of you who took time to send a kind note!
In addition to the great stories that came out of last week’s event are the many wonderful photos that were captured. Today, we’d like to share a few of our pictures from last week’s celebration. As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words!”
If you have pictures or experiences from the Grand Opening celebration, we invite you to share them on Facebook, Twitter and/or LelyLife.com. Photos and stories can also be emailed to lelydairylife@gmail.com. You may just see them featured right here on the blog!
A very special thank you to everyone who helped celebrate the Grand Opening of our new production facility in Pella, Iowa. It was an honor to have so many friends and Lely “family members” join in the festivities this week.
Be sure to check back next week as we share photos and more from the event. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the video that concluded the celebration last night.
Live Life Lely!
On this Wordless Wednesday we’d like to give you a “sneak peak” into Lely’s Grand Opening celebration. Lely shares this photo on their Facebook page, adding:
Thursday is the grand opening of our production facility in Pella, USA. Check out the building, which is currently being transformed for the grand opening.
For more views, click here!
If you’re not familiar with this blogosphere phenomenon, About.com, describes Wordless Wednesday as, “a simple blog post featuring a photo which conveys a message that speaks for itself without using words.”
Lely, the world leader in robotic milking systems, is hosting a Grand Opening celebration March 28 – 30, 2012, to commemorate the expansion of its production facilities in Pella, Iowa.
“We are extremely excited to open our doors to our Lely family and the community as a way to say ‘thank you’ for their continued support,” says Peter Langebeeke, President of Lely USA. “Throughout the week we will be paying tribute to Lely’s history, while also looking to the future of dairy innovation.” Lely USA expects over 400 dealers and customers to attend this historic event.
The three-day event is a celebration of Lely’s first dairy production facility outside of its headquarters and production facilities in Maassluis and Rotterdam, Holland. The facility will dramatically increase production capacity in the North American market, allowing Lely to expand its current services and technologies for dairy producers across North America.
A number of guest speakers will be featured throughout the week, including Governor Terry Branstad, Governor of Iowa, who will speak to the economic impact the facility will have on the state and Mary Andringa, CEO Vermeer Corporation. The grand opening will culminate with Alexander van der Lely, CEO of the Lely group officially opening the facility along with his son Laurens.
Alexander van der Lely, CEO Lely Group, also will be the highlight of a media-only Q&A session, followed by a VIP dinner, featuring Mark Pearson, farmer, business owner, and host of the nationally syndicated public television program “Market to Market” and daily farm program “The Big Show,” Thursday evening. Additionally, a number of educational workshops and breakout sessions will take place, providing attendees the opportunity to tour the facility and learn more about Lely’s innovative line of products.
Be sure to check back here for photos, videos, updates and more throughout the week!
An inquiry held amongst 104 North American farmers, who started with robotic milking between 2008 and 2010, has given us insight into the factors that are critical for a successful transition to robotic milking.
Results for Milk Production and Quality (pre-post robotic milking):
Milk yield improved by 6.3% over all herds.
Critical success factors for robotic milking
Using sensors and information tools enables farmers to work pro-actively and solve bovine health problems before they become visible in the barn.
Current Lely Astronaut users made the following recommendations to farmers switching to robotic milkers:
On this Wordless Wednesday we’d like to share a photo that Mor-Dale Farms posted on their Facebook page this morning.
Hope everyone enjoyed the first day of spring.
What does your first day of spring look like? Email it to lelydairylife@gmail.com!
Photo courtesy of Mor-Dale Farms.
If you’re not familiar with this blogosphere phenomenon, About.com, describes Wordless Wednesday as, “a simple blog post featuring a photo which conveys a message that speaks for itself without using words.”
Lely’s T4C management program organizes information through indicators which are presented clearly on a dashboard. This provides you with a quick overview of the performance of the herd, the robotic milking system and attention cows.
All you need to gain full control – quick response for healthy cows
Hear from Tom, with Lely Farm Management Support, as he explains what a healthy dairy cow should look like.
Lely has been active on the international market for a long time and has to date assembled its dairy equipment in The Netherlands. To meet the increasing demand of the North American market, Lely has decided to start local production. With a view to operating faster, more efficiently and reducing transport costs, we have decided to build a production facility in the US for the assembly of milking robots using locally sourced parts.
The production site of our choice is Pella, Iowa, USA, where our strategic forage solutions partner, Vermeer, is based. The aim was not only building a production site for our operations, but also to ensure ample office space for our other departments such as Technical and Customer Service and Farm Management Support, thus making the premises suitable as our North American Headquarters. The result: a production building totaling 3,400 m2 with an additional 560 m2 office space and exuding a modern look that was inspired by our newest Lely Center in Bain de Bretagne, France.
The new Lely production facility will be officially opened by Alexander van der Lely, CEO of the Lely Group, and his son, Laurens, March 29th, 2012.
